I feel sorry for the parents of the victims of the recent car crash in Tagaytay.
To those who are criticizing the kids because “tinakas lang ang sasakyan” and the parents did not know about the road trip, please stop. They were just kids; just send your condolences to the family of the victims. Your tactlessness wouldn’t help to ease the parents’ pain.
They were just kids who wanted to explore. All of us wanted to prove ourselves when we were younger. We wanted to be free to prove that we could do things. We wanted to go places but always had the intention to come back home. We believed that the kids from the TV series Beverly Hills 90210, TGIS and Tabing-Ilog were the coolest; and we wanted to be like them. We wanted to prove mommy and daddy that we survived traveling at night. We just laughed at their concern but deep inside, we were so touched by their love.
Yes, they were just kids and for sure they were sorry they offended their parents. The last one alive must be crying not just out of physical pain, but more of the thought of not seeing her family again. So please, don’t be hard on them. They were just kids who unfortunately had to go ahead of us.
With all due respect sa taong nakadisgrasya ng dalawang glass window namin sa second floor ng bahay dahil sa kwitis, ikakampanya ko ang pagbabawal ng pagbebenta at pamimili ng mga paputok para sa mga kadahilanang:
Pasikat- maraming tao ang pasikat magpapaputok. Buti sana kung sariling daliri nila ang mapeperwisyo. Kaso, may mga incidents na dahil sa kapapasikat, naibato sa taong dumaraan at yun ang na-injure nila. Kainis di ba!
Walang skill- may taong responsable naman sa pagpapaputok pero hindi skilled enough para magpaputok. Gaya nyang nakaperwisyo ng glass windows namin. He might have been responsible enough pero dahil hindi nya skill ang pagpapaputok, muntik pa nyang masunog ang bahay namin! Buti na nga lang at walang napinsala sa mga bubog ng bintana.
Crowded/Masikip/Walang open space- kung di ba naman di nag-iisip, magpapaputok ka sa crowded place? Paano kung sa bahay tumama at magkasunog eh di isang buong barangay ang nasunog mo!
DOH, PNP, barangay—please lang! Please lang puspusin nyo na ang kampanya sa firecrackers ban starting this month! Para din po ito sa ating lahat.
That was the first phrase that I learned from a Nepali classmate in college. There were a number of foreign students from the university that I attended and among them, I became friends with the Nepali because I felt more connection with them. They have this kind of “no mean bone in their body” attitude. They were generous and hospitable as well.
One of them was my neighbor in Sanitary Camp. He was good in class and did not hesitate to offer tutoring me for some lessons that I did not understand.
“Okay, Iris, this is how you graph it. Use different colors of pen for each coordinates” he would say. Those were the days of manual graphing when using Microsoft Excel was not yet the norm.
He was older than me by three years and acted as my “kuya” everytime I had love problems with my college sweetheart.
“Don’t take love seriously yet,” he would say.
The other Nepali that was close to me was equally generous and hospitable. We became close during the thesis-making days and we would storm at his apartment to do that.
There was a time when he and his friends cooked “momo” for us. There was a beer-drinking session after. I was never a fan of beer so I headed to one of the rooms to continue doing the thesis. His dog named Arki was there in the room with us. Arki was used to seeing us at the apartment.
The third Nepali was also a neighbor and a classmate who was generous enough to welcome me and a female classmate at his apartment to do some projects. The friendship did not went deeper because he was from another engineering course and we did not have sufficient time to bond after the semester that we were classmates.
My mother, who at that time, had never seen a Nepali before asked me how they look like. I said, Nepalis are beautiful with round eyes but some have Chinese eyes but their greatest character is their friendliness.
Somebody ran over our kitten this morning. I do not know who did it and I have no intention of pointing fingers. It must be an accident. I feel guilty for not being responsible enough to look for Mona (kitten) the night before it happened.
I was frantic when I found out that the reason why Mona was not running towards me was because of an injury. I felt so helpless just looking at the poor injured kitten; I knew it would just be a matter of hours before Mona would succumb.
Only pet owners and pet lovers can understand the bond between an animal and the owner. We give our pets time, love, devotion and spend a little money for giving them a better life. I was never into pets until my son influenced me.
Some people will say that animals are just animals with a value lower than human. For me, some animals are created to give us happiness and some, to provide us food. But even the killing of animals for food must be done in an ethical way.
Just like what my BFF said, I should move on and treat the incident as a lesson—to be more responsible as a pet owner (buy them a cat litter, know the number of the vet)
I am still grieving and I will surely miss Mona. It’s heartbreaking to see her die that way.
My mother died of breast cancer in 2009 so by default, I am required to undergo breast examination starting the age of 35. My recent executive check up result was generally fine but I’d like to stay on the safe side because the OB (obstetrician-gynecologist) just performed the “manual” breast examination so I asked our company doctor for a referral letter for a mammogram.
Unlike the xray, a mammogram can only be performed 7 to 10 days after the onset of the last menstruation. Anything beyond the 10th day has a risk for false alarm for presence of cyst.
Deodorant, make up and powder are not encouraged because of possibility of contamination and blurred reading. Jewelries must be removed, too.
The lab assistant will provide you with a lab gown. You need to wear it with the opening at the front instead of the back when you’re doing chest xray. The lab assistant will ask you to wear nipple tape with a tiny metal marker that will serve as the technician’s reference for imaging analysis.
The lab assistant will guide you for the proper posture and then place one of your breasts on the metal plate and adjust the upper plate (tranparent) so that the two plates press your breast very firmly. Expect a little discomfort! The xray takes less than a minute and the plates automatically release when the xray is done.
The lab assistant will give you at least 5 minutes to compose yourself for the other breast’s mammogram while the lab technician or radiologist prepares the next plate.
Basically, there are two xrays per breast; one is when the plates are in horizontal position so that the top and bottom of the breast is being pressed and the other is the vertical position wherein the left and ride side of the breast is pressed.
Average time to perform a mammogram is 30 to 45 minutes depending on the speed of the radiologist and lab assistant. From where I had my mammogram, the price was PhP2000; a small price to pay for an early detection.
Angelina Jolie had double mastectomy and breast reconstruction if only to prevent the curse of cancer. Her mother died of breast cancer and I feel her worry that the same thing can happen to her.
The result of my mammogram will be released next week and I am hoping and praying that the result will be favorable.
Lab gown and blue cap. The green shades are for my privacy naman.=pSee the transparent plate at the upper part and the black plate at the lower part? Yan ang nang-iipit!
Have you ever felt like watching a movie all by yourself?
Or going to a far-away place with no one by your side?
I’d love to watch the sunset alone.
Play in the rain til I fall asleep on the grass.
Pick flowers in the wilderness til I get lost and find my way home.
Collect different shapes and textures of rocks.
Check in a hotel suite and read a good book.
Go to a museum and appreciate the artworks.
Stay up late at night and watch for falling stars.
Sleep on the rooftop with birds and cats.
I need my alone time, my me time to assess where I want to go.
To let go of all the bad thoughts and recharge my mind and spirit.
To heal my broken heart, forgive and forget.
To come back as a better person for everyone that matters to me.
“When I was twelve years old, the world was my magic lantern, and by its green spirit glow I saw the past, the present and into the future. You probably did too; you just don’t recall it. See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God’s sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.”
~Robert McCammon
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I want to be 12 years old again not because I want to change the course of my destiny.
I want to be 12 years old again to re-experience the age of innocence: fairies, dwarfes, knight-in-shining armor and magical kingdom.
I want to be 12 years old again to tell all those who passed away in the present time that I love them very much every single day.
If there is a time machine, I want it to bring me back to that time even for an hour. No, I don’t want to change everything in the past because my past life taught me lessons and molded me into a better person that I am now.
I don’t want to change who I met and who broke my heart because I am happy with my children now…and changing the past means not having them in the present.
Perhaps I can just be 12 years old at heart: loving, fun and magical.
The World of Second Chances 